He said that with hindsight, he had made the biggest mistake of his political career and that the Netherlands deserved a foreign minister that was above all doubt.

But while acknowledging that his actions were stupid, Mr Zijlstra has continued to say that Mr Putin did actually speak those words and that by lying he was purely trying to protect a source who had been present at the gathering.

He had only been foreign minister for four months.

The Russian embassy in The Netherlands has previously complained about Mr Zijlstra’s statement and accused Dutch officials of constantly making unfounded claims about Russia.